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Marine gateways play a critical role in the exchange of water, heat, salt and nutrients between oceans and seas. As a result, changes in gateway geometry can significantly alter both the pattern of global ocean circulation and associated heat transport and climate, as well as having a profound impact on local environmental conditions. Mediterranean-Atlantic marine corridors that pre-date the modern Gibraltar Strait, closed during the Late Miocene and are now exposed on land in northern Morocco and southern Spain. The restriction and closure of these Miocene connections resulted in extreme salinity fluctuations in the Mediterranean, leading to the precipitation of thick evaporites. This event is known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). The evolution and closure of the Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways are a critical control on the MSC, but at present the location, geometry and age of these gateways is still highly controversial, as is the impact of changing Mediterranean outflow on Northern Hemisphere circulation. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the Late Miocene gateways and the nature of Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange as deduced from published studies focussed both on the sediments preserved within the fossil corridors and inferences that can be derived from data in the adjacent basins. We also consider the possible impact of evolving exchange on both the Mediterranean and global climate and highlight the main enduring challenges for reconstructing past Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange.

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We search for the Mediterranean-Atlantic gateway that delivered the marine salt during the Messinian Salinity Crisis  All previously proposed late Miocene gateways through southern Spain and northern Morocco are shown to have closed during the latest Tortonian-earliest Messinian  The Gibraltar Corridor is considered to sole candidate gateway and was most likely open during most of the Messinian Salinity Crisis  The dimensions of the Gibraltar Corridor during the MSC are estimated based on Mediterranean salinity fluctuations using geophysical models  A revised palaeogeographic evolution of the Gibraltar region is presented for the late Tortonian to early Zanclean.

In the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020), SARS-CoV-2 was detected in farmed minks and genomic sequencing was performed on mink farms and farm personnel. Here, we describe the outbreak and use sequence data with Bayesian phylodynamic methods to explore SARS-CoV-2 transmission in minks and humans on farms. High number of farm infections (68/126) in minks and farm workers (>50% of farms) were detected, with limited community spread. Three of five initial introductions of SARS-CoV-2 led to subsequent spread between mink farms until November 2020. Viruses belonging to the largest cluster acquired an amino acid substitution in the receptor binding domain of the Spike protein (position 486), evolved faster and spread longer and more widely. Movement of people and distance between farms were statistically significant predictors of virus dispersal between farms. Our study provides novel insights into SARS-CoV-2 transmission between mink farms and highlights the importance of combining genetic information with epidemiological information when investigating outbreaks at the animal-human interface.

[1] Under certain conditions the strontium isotope ratio in the water of a semi-enclosed basin is known to be sensitive to the relative size of ocean water inflow and river input. Combining Sr-isotope ratios measured in Mediterranean Late Miocene successions with data on past salinity, one can derive quantitative information on the Mediterranean hydrological budget at times before and during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Previous studies obtained this hydrological budget by inverting the salinity and strontium data with steady state solutions to the conservation equations of salt, strontium and water. Here, we develop a box model with a time-dependent set of equations to investigate the coeval evolution of salinity and Sr ratios under different water budgets, gateway restrictions and riverine Sr characteristics. Model results are compared with the salinity and strontium ratio data from the Mediterranean. With a present-day water budget, strontium ratios in the Mediterranean never reach the observed Messinian values regardless of gateway restriction and water budget. However, a model with tripled river input, as inferred for the Late Miocene, is able to reproduce the Sr ratios observed. The onset of the MSC can be explained with a simple restriction of the gateway(s) between the Mediterranean and Atlantic. Lower Evaporite gypsum formed in a basin with less outflow to the Atlantic than modeled in previous studies because of the large Late Miocene river input. Evaporite thicknesses predicted by our model and consistent with the Messinian Sr ratios are on the low end of the thickness range inferred from seismics.

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